If we really understood God’s priorities, we wouldn’t think there is anything sad about souls ending up in Hell for an eternity. Hell is not a bummer to God, it’s a glorious thing. God will not be mocked. He delights in justice. He delights in revenge (see Why God Loves Hell). But while God thoroughly enjoys thrashing His enemies, He is also extremely gracious, kind, patient, and merciful. Before condemning us to Hell, God gives us plenty of chances to come to Him. He educates us about who He is and what He wants. He makes sure we have the internal resources we need to meet His demands for reverential submission (see The Salvation Process: Understanding the Fairness of God). If we really saw how incredibly gracious God is towards every soul and if we were really loving God first, then we would feel furious at seeing souls continue to spit in His face for their entire lives and we would celebrate their demise. Being aligned with God means caring about HIS feelings more than we care about the comfort of created things. Being loyal to God means wanting Him to be revered and honored by every human soul.
44 comments
"Hell is not a bummer to God, it’s a glorious thing. God will not be mocked. "
God LOOOOOOVES his torture chamber.
Hell is not justice. It is excess. It solves nothing and punishes vindictively. Punishment should, if possible, be focused on rehabilitation rather than revenge. Since all is possible with Gobs, he is not being just with his rulings.
@Grey Rook
OK I understand what you mean, but I just feel the quotes could have been spread out more to make room for ones from other sources.
Also, Anna Diehl is a rape victim, and a lot of her posts are a result of her bitterness at what happened to her. I don't feel it's right for people to mock her, she needs some kind of therapy, not derision.
Hell is not a bummer to God, it’s a glorious thing.
To the souls which get sent there, not so much. I have a feeling that Anna has absolutely no empathy whatsoever.
<i>He delights in justice. He delights in revenge</i>
So which is it? Justice or Revenge?
<i>Before condemning us to Hell, God gives us plenty of chances to come to Him.</i>
Of course, some get more chances than others, right? I mean, what else can you say about having some kid die before he can talk, let alone accept this so-called “grace” when some other person gets 92 years to fuck things up over and over again while they think things over?
"God will not be mocked. He delights in justice."
This is, of course, the God of fundies who think "justice" means that True Believers are legally responsible for acts towards other True Believers and no one else.
"He educates us about who He is and what He wants."
Let me guess. You think He's chosen you to "educate" us, right?
"Being aligned with God means caring about HIS feelings more than we care about the comfort of created things."
I think you must have missed key sections of the second half of the book.
God's priorities, a la Calvinism:
Wank to self.
Have Creation gush over how huge His dick is.
Engage in sadism for greater self pleasure.
Reach climax as victims make excuses for Him with no guarantee that He hasn't already decided to make a further example of them, because He decides what's a sin and who is going to sin before they ever do it but can still get them to blame themselves for it.
Never have to promise not to hurt people for total obedience, eternal fear is their eternal reward.
Wank some more to how awesome He is.
sadly or God we are humans, fallible, and with a sense of empathy for others. This means that we may punish someone for his conduct while regretting the situation they then find they are in.
God claims we are his beloved children. What father (uncle, brother, mother, stranger) would choose to torture them for eternity no matter what the crime.
God could simply place them in an area where they would have everything they need, yet be unable to harm others.
If he is omnipotent it wouldnt be any real work for him either.
Love me or exist in torment forever is the mindset of a psychopath. I would rather worship a soft, kind Jerboa.
So, God is some sort of infinite utility monster?
...Actually, that's nothing new. Fundies have been declaring that God is the only being that matters for millenia.
Well, on other posts, you say that he has already predetermined who goes to Hell and who doesn´t, so it´s completely invalid.
"Turn or burn?"
"Buy this magazine or we'll shoot this dog." - National Lampoon
Can you see why both of those propositions are ethically bankrupt?
Did you ever stop to think that we can't understand "God's priorities" because they're indistinguishable from "random?"
"He educates us about who He is and what He wants. He makes sure we have the internal resources we need to meet His demands for reverential submission"
By this logic, when someone goes to Hell for not believing it is God's fault for not being convincing enough.
"While a mugger thoroughly enjoys thrashing his victims, he is also extremely gracious, kind, patient, and merciful. Before shooting us dead, he gives us plenty of chances to hand over our stuff. He educates us about who he is (an armed robber who's gonna blow your motherf***ing head off) and what he wants (gimme your wallet, watch and cell phone, motherf***er). He makes sure we have the internal resources we need to meet his demands for reverential submission (a wallet, watch and cell phone). Being aligned with the mugger means caring about HIS feelings more than we care about the comfort of created things like wallets, watches and cell phones."
See how stupid that sounds?
It sounds like Anna is trying to compete with the Westboro Baptist Church.
And, once again, if your God needs any mere mortal to do anything on His behalf? He is, by definition, not God.
The sort of God who would sentence finite, fallible humans to infinite punishment for an infinite timespan just to watch them suffer and scream for eternity isn't a deity to worship or love--it's a demiurge to be placated and kowtowed to in the vain hope that it doesn't notice you.
If such an entity existed, it would be something one opposed at all costs at every turn.
The concept of omnipotence escapes you, doesn't it?
An omnipotent god who creates a place of eternal punishment for those who don't bow down to him is pure evil. Not only omnipotent but supposedly omni benevolent.
Not to mention the silliness of an omnipotent god who repeatedly makes mistakes and must punish his creations for the mistakes he made, e.g. the garden of Eden(where Satin actually told the truth), the great flood, and the tower of babel. Then finally sends himself, to be a sacrifice to himself, to create a loophole within a system that he created in the first place. Its pure absurdity.
You say God will not be mocked, buy that is simply not true. Watch. Hey, God! Mock, mock, mock, mock, mock! See. Nothing happens.
If we really understood God’s priorities,...
We can't. Too wonderful for us mere mortals to grasp. Only you Anna know the mind of Gawd-a.
Oops! That's not allowed either, is it?
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@#1749891
So what you're saying is God Is Eclipso.
Eclipso? Like Harry Belafonte music?
You know, after reading some of this site out of morbid curiosity, I have to say I actually agree with a lot of what this woman is saying. I think her interpretation of the theology is a lot more consistant with the whole of the bible as its written than anything else I've ever seen and she's pretty spot on about taking other Christians to task for cherry picking whatever parts of the scriptures make them feel good or fit their agenda.
BUT, and this is a big but, where we differ in our conclusions is I don't believe the bible is literally true. All this goes to show is how fucked up the whole thing is when you look at it honestly and what a sadistic mindset most of the people who wrote the bible must have had (Diehl even freely acknowledges at several points how terrible the behaviour typical of God would be from a human).
In short, I think if you look at it the right way, this blog is a resounding endorsement of atheism.
"He delights in justice. He delights in revenge"
He delights in pain. He delights in suffering. He delights in torture. he delights in cruelty. He delights in heart ache. He delights in despair.
Now, doesn't that sound like someone worthy of your love, devotion, and worship?
Ms. Diehl: Just because you think God wants something, and God is infinitely powerful, doesn't mean it's automatically human!good (moral in the sorts of ways that you'd treat as moral if you derived your morality from human instinctive morality). Imagine an omnipotent and omniscient being that cared only about sorting objects into prime-numbered groups. Would that being's desires constitute morality just because it is capable of experiencing far more glory and is far more powerful than you are? If you found out that such beings existed, would you suddenly decide that the only thing that mattered from a moral standpoint was sorting objects into prime-numbered groups?
Everyone else: This is what a non-hypocritical total utilitarian who believes in the god described in the Bible and thinks that utility monsters are not at all monstrous looks like. Alternately, this is what someone with a utility function (maximize God's desires) almost completely orthogonal to our own looks like. Be glad she is limited to human levels of power.
Wasn't the giant fire pit made for Satan and his bunch of jolly devils, and the rest just get the area outside of Gods glorious kingdom?
Oh no wait, that wouldn't scare people into accepting God and doing what you say, and we can't have that.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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